WEDNESDAY 13 Unveils Music Video For 'Condolences' Title Track

"Condolences", the video for the title track of WEDNESDAY 13's seventh solo studio album, can be seen below. Released today (Friday, June 2) via Nuclear Blast Entertainment, the follow-up to 2015's "Monsters Of The Universe" was produced by Chris "Zeuss" Harris, who previously worked with Wednesday 13 and guitarist Roman Surman on the 2010 MURDERDOLLS album "Women & Children Last". The artwork was created by Travis Smith (OPETH, KATATONIA, NEVERMORE) and can be seen below.

"We weren't trying to do a really long, IRON MAIDEN type of song — it just came out that way," Wednesday 13 said. "It wasn't forced and I think it's awesome! It's one of the first songs I wrote for the record.

"The title 'Condolences' came from when David Bowie passed away; I kept seeing 'Condolences, sorry for your loss.' I realized how powerful that word was, so I picked my guitar up and started writing the riff for it; I had the chorus instantly."

He added: "We shortened the song for the video — we cut two minutes off of it. But it's still a really, really dark song. And I think we captured that vibe in the video. It's definitely the strangest thing I've ever done — I filmed my fake funeral. I had all my friends there, putting flowers on a casket; it was really weird! I had a wreath that said, 'In Memory of Wednesday 13.' I'm the priest in it, doing my eulogy, and I'm also inside the casket, like I'm being buried alive. When we filmed the video, the director, Matt Zane, said, 'This reminds me of TWISTED SISTER 'Burn In Hell' or 'Captain Howdy'. And I was like, 'Holy shit, it does! I didn't even realize it."

"Condolences" track listing:

01. Last Rites
02. What The Night Brings
03. Cadaverous
04. Blood Sick
05. Good Riddance
06. You Breathe, I Kill
07. Omen Amen
08. Cruel To You
09. Eulogy XIII
10. Prey For Me
11. Lonesome Road To Hell
12. Condolences
13. Death Infinity

Wednesday 13 told Creative Loafing that "Condolences" may be his darkest and heaviest album to date. "The campiness is kind of gone off of this record," he said. "It's definitely heavier, and definitely the best-produced sounding thing, I think, I've ever recorded. A lot of people go, 'He's serious now!' Well, I'm 40 years old now. I'm growing with the music, my band, everything, and this record definitely has some experimenting with different sounds and things. The sense of humor is still always there, but maybe not as campy as it's always been, and sometimes that comes off more serious."

Regarding the subject matter covered on "Condolences", Wednesday 13 said: "The theme is death, and it comes from everything from the point of view of a killer, the point of view of being killed, and the whole record ends with the title track 'Condolences' and that's like the funeral."

He continued: "It's just a dark, weird record, kind of inspired by basically everybody who seems to be dropping around us. I kept seeing, 'Condolences, sorry for your loss,' and I saw that, and I themed the record around what's in the air right now."

Photo credit: Jeremy Saffer